FORBIDDE

N LOVE
Can Themba

Mind the Gap 2023

CAN THEMBA

Taught in Soweto
Born in Pretoria in Studied at the Journalist for Drum
(Johannesburg’s
1924 University of Fort Hare magazine
western township)

Was declared a banned He left South Africa

person (remember this and taught in Passed away in 1968
was during apartheid) Swaziland
THE TITLE:
FORBIDDEN LOVE
 Forbidden = not allowed; banned.

 Mixed relationships were prohibited during

apartheid
 Certain families were against family members in
relationships with other races.
IN THIS STORY

Reflects a situation where Reader can clearly see the

family members (and apartheid government's Racist attitudes stem from
society) do not approve a practice of classifying fear or self doubt
mix race relationship. people.
 Two people loved each other deeply

They had to hide their relationship. (Michael is black and Dora

SUMMARY
is coloured)

The relationship gets exposed when Dora’s little brother,

Bobby, is told at his school that his sister is in a relationship
with a native.
A fight follows and Meneer Carelse (school teacher), who is in
love with Dora, finds out.

He tries to convince the Principal that her family must be told.

The principal doesn’t want it to become “public knowledge”,

but Meneer Carelse goes to tell the whole community about
what they considered a ‘scandal’.
The irony in the story lies in the fact that Davie (Dora’s
brother) has had a relationship with Salome (Mike’s sister)
from which a child was conceived.
THEMES

Love Fear Apartheid

Hypocrisy Bullying
THEME - LOVE
Dora and Michael (Mike) love each other.
• They love each other despite the challenges of their different racial groups during Apartheid.
• “Dora’s disgrace was on everyone’s lips. To everybody, except to Dora herself, this was disaster. She
decided that it was release from the long months of stolen, forbidden love. And fell a thrill in defiance. “
page 15
• She also shows her commitment to Michael by caring for him after he was assaulted by Davie’s group.
“I’m with you in this to the end.” Dora remains defiant and does not care that others know she is in love
with Mike. (page 15)
- Davie loves Salome but doesn’t want to accept responsibility for the child.

Salome loves Davie, she doesn’t tell that he is the father of the child.
• Page 12 “A woman in love is operating at the lowest level of intellect”
THEME: FEAR
 The theme of fear is woven throughout the story.
 Dora’s family lives their life in fear, as they feel that they do not want to have any
involvement with black people.
 Their peers’ actions and beliefs that make them think that black South Africans are beneath them or
are less human…
 - p. 11 Michael tells Dora that “…everybody’s trouble is that he is afraid.” Mr Van Vuuren and
Dora’s father are afraid their old world is turning over and they will now have to fight for
things.
 Louisa is afraid politics may tear her away from her family, because she had a darker complexion.
(p. 11)
 Davie is afraid to accept responsibility for his child and admit his love for Salome. “There’s one
letter at home, the one in which your son begged me not to expose him.
 THEME: APARTHEID
 Separation/division caused by classification of people in racial groups.
 The group act (blacks in black areas, coloureds in their areas, whites in their areas etc.
 Black South Africans are not allowed to attend the cinema for the film that is being shown. p.
15 “… the film was banned for ‘Children under twelve and Natives’.
 The people of Noordgesig (coloureds), referred to the black people as ‘natives’, which is very
derogatory.
 Page 15 “children under twelve and natives”

 *** bastard, naytif (native), your people vs my people etc.

 THEME: HYPOCRISY
 Davie is the father of Salome’s child, but he is too afraid to admit his love for Salome. (p. 17)
 Davie is also the one who organises the beating up of Michael (Mike) because he is in love with Dora,

 Ironically Davie has had a relationship with Salome in which a child was conceived.
 Despite this Davie still considers it appropriate to beat Mike up due to him having a relationship with Dora.
 Davie calls Michael names, meanwhile --- not only did he have relationship with a black girl, he has a baby
with a black girl.

 We also have:

 Meneer Carelse was “sanctimonius” (p. 14) when telling the principal that Dora’s family should know
about her relationship with Mike.
 BUT he is the one that made sure that “the whole world came to know of it”,
 to spite her because she rejected his marriage proposal.
THEME: BULLYING
 - Bullying had become part of the school tradition. “They were teasing each other in the age-
old school tradition.”(p. 13)
 -At the bioscope, Michael, being black, is beaten up by a group of boys under the leadership
of Davie, because he loves Davie’s sister (who is coloured)
SETTING (THE WHEN AND
THE WHERE)
WHEN:
• during apartheid,

WHERE:
• Western townships of Johannesburg, Sophiatown; (the “natives”)
• Noordgesig area. (the coloureds)

***
The story is told from an omniscient narrator’s point of view of his personal
experience with apartheid laws.
STRUCTURE AND PLOT
DEVELOPMENT
 “Dora Randolph was now running in the
dark … ’not here, darling, some car-
lights may strike upon us.’ He led her
higher up the road into the tall grass ”
page 10

EXPOSITION

The narrator introduces us to the story

through two lovers from different racial
backgrounds who have to hide in ’tall
grass’ due to prohibitions on mixed
relationships.
 The fight.

RISING
ACTION

Dora’s brother, Davie, with a few of his coloured

friends go out looking for Michael. They meet him at
the Rhythmic Cinema and beat him. Dora tries to stop
them but they are determined to beat him. The other
African boys run away and Michael and Dora are left by
themselves with the angry crowd of coloured boys.
  Salome exposes the truth that Davie, Dora’s
brother, is the father of her child..
 After learning about the story of Michael’s
CLIMAX beating by Davie and his friends,
 She shows the family evidence in the form of
love letters that Davie has written to her.
 Both families are shocked.
 Michael and Dora are
no longer living
under fear anymore.
RESOLUTION
There is a feeling that
the rivalry and the
fighting has subsided
forever.
CHARACTERS
Dora Randolph
Michael Chabakeng
Mr Van Vuuren
Louisa
Meneer Carelse
Davie
Salome
 ● She is loving and caring:
● She is overprotective of her younger sister,

DORA Louisa.
● She loves Michael very deeply.

RANDOLP ● She takes care of Michael when he was

beaten by the young coloured lads (gang).

H
● She is ashamed of how her community treats
their black counterparts.
● She does not give up on her relationship with
Michael
MICHAEL
● He is considerate:
He chooses his words carefully when
talking to Dora about her family.

CHABAK ● He is very concerned about the identity of his

sister, Salome’s child.

ENG ● He is humble and his love for Dora is evident

in how he treats her and her family.
MR VAN ● He is a racist:

VUUREN
He hates black people with a passion..
 ● She is Dora’s younger sister.
She is a bit darker in complexion than the
LOUISA others.
● She does not want to be associated with black
people.
MENEER ● He is bitter: he is driven by bitterness. (an
outside influence in the story)

CARELSE
● Meneer Carelse tells others that Dora is in a
mixed race relationship.
 ● He is a hypocrite.
● He shares a child with Salome.

DAVIE ● He lives in fear that he will be exposed by

Salome that he is the father of her child. ● He
still considers it appropriate to beat Michael up
due to him having a relationship with Dora (his
sister).
 ● She is brave and strong.

SALOME ● She is Michael’s sister.

● She exposes her relationship with Davie to his
family despite their race issues.
NARRATOR’S POINT OF VIEW
 The story is narrated in the third person, by an unnamed narrator.
 The narrator tells a story using a bird’s eye/ omniscient view.
 This means that the narrator knows everything about the actions, attitude,
secrets and even thoughts of all characters.
 The narrator helps us to understand how fear and shame are relentlessly part of a community
that seeks to prove that black people are beneath them in all areas of their being.
STYLE
 An easy flowing literary style has been used throughout the story.
 This is maybe, due to the fact that the narrator wants to demonstrate apartheid norms as lived
by different racial groups in the townships.
 This narrative explores deeply into the practices of the apartheid system and its cruel
tendencies.
 Tone:

• Secretive:
• there are secrets not told by Salome about the
identity of her child’s father.
• Tension:
• the community lives in a tense or rather fearful
environment whereby black people are treated as
TONE AND inferior to coloureds. and this separated them
most of the time.
MOOD • The fact that Dora and Mike having to hide in
the bushes for them to be together and being
fearful of what the people in the community will
say, is gross.

Mood:

• Shame
• Hopelessness
• Fearful
• Optimistic
DICTION AND FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
 The writer uses idiomatic expressions in order to emphasise meaning:
 e.g.
‘This business of becoming an African is nearest to her, seems would soonest catch her in its
cruel fingers.’(p11)
The cruelty of the system of apartheid and its separation laws are compared to a cruel
monster threatening to catch Louisa.
Some examples of figures of speech in the story include:
 SIMILE

 METAPHOR / ALLUSION

 PERSONIFICATION

 IRONY
 ‘A ghost-like shadow flew out to Noordgesig like
a tongue flicked out of a mouth mockingly.’(p12)

SIMILE Mike slips away in the darkness like a ghost, and

the fact that the two lovers met in secret is like a
taunting flucking of the tongue to the authorities
who prohibit a relationship between them.
METAPHO
 He must have seen her for his dark form swam towards
her.’(p10) The movement of the man is slow and
flowing like a person swimming.

R/  ‘Between you and I, there is, lying side by side with the
fear, a faith. Let’s feed the faith. Let’s talk of

ALLUSIO
love.’(p11) Fear and faith are compared to animals
lying side by side. It reminds of the biblical image of
the lamb and the lion lying side by side.

N:  ‘He had a bombshell …’ (p13) The news Dick Peters

has, will have as much shock power to cause pain and
destruction, as a bombshell would have if it exploded.
  ‘From the bridge the road climbed the hillock
and sailed away to Newclare.’ (P10)

PERSONIFIC  The road is given human qualities by stating

ATION: that it wilfully climbs a hill and then goes

sailing.
IRONY:
 It is ironic that Davie, who has a baby with a
black girl, beats up a black boy for having a
relationship with his sister.
ANSWERS:
1.1 (a) D/Dora’s boyfriend (1)
(b) A/Dora’s brother (1)
(c) B/Mike’s sister (1)
(d) C/Dora’s sister (1)
1.2 The setting of the story is Western Township during apartheid/segregation time. (2)
1.3 (a) metaphor (1)
(b) The manner in which Mike embraces Dora looks as if his arms are curving around her body. (2)
1.4 ‘sigh’ (1)
1.5 C/oxymoron (1)
1.6 caring/loving/protective
He takes Dora to a safe place./He caresses Dora in a loving way. (2)
1.7 The discussion of the theme of fear should include the following points, among others:
 Dora lives her life in fear of being ridiculed by her family and community.
 Michael and Dora hide in the ‘tall grass’ in a secluded place, just so they are not seen by the people
from her community.
 Michael fears that the coloured boys might hurt Dora and hides her behind him.
 Davie fears rejection from his people and he keeps his child with Salome a secret. (3)
NOTE: For full marks, the response must be well-substantiated. You can score 1 or 2 marks for a response which is
not well- substantiated. Your interpretation must be grounded in the short story.
1.8 Open ended response e.g.
Yes.
Davie has a child with Michael’s sister who is black. Yet he wants to beat up Michael for having a
relationship with his sister, Dora.
OR
Davie does not have a choice but to act as if he hates black people in order to make his family happy.
Acting this way can help him conceal his own secret.
NOTE: You will NOT be awarded a mark for YES or NO only. For full marks, the response must be well-
substantiated. You can score 1 or 2 marks for a response which is not well-substantiated. Your interpretation must be
grounded in the short story.